Library Course Guide for AfroAm 797S/History 797S:
African Americans and the Movement to Abolish Slavery

Introduction: This guide is arranged in the order that one might work through the research process. However, if you would like to go to a particular area, choose from the alphabetical grouping below.

| Books | Citation Styles | Databases | Internet Resources | Journals, Periodicals |
| Locating Library Materials | Other Library Materials | Reference Materials |
| Research Process | Reserves |

Reference Materials

Locate background information on your topic by using the Library Catalog. You can do a search and restrict the search to reference materials.

Some sample reference books for this course (located on the Main floor of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library):

• The African-American almanac Ref. E185.5 .N34
• The African-American archive: the history of the Black experience in documents Ref. E184.6 .A33 2001
• The African-American mosaic: a Library of Congress resource guide for the study of Black history and culture Ref. Z1361.N39 L47 1993
• African American women: a biographical dictionary Ref. E 185.96 .A45 1993
• The atlas of African-American history and politics: from the slave trade to modern times Ref. E185 .S574 1998
• Black abolitionist papers, 1830-1865: a guide to the microfilm edition Ref. E449 .B625 1981
• Black chronology: from 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the slave trade Ref. DT17 .D5 1983
• Black slavery in the Americas: an interdisciplinary bibliography, 1865-1980 Ref. Z7164.S6 S63 1982
• Dictionary of Afro-American slavery Ref. E441 .D53 1988
• Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history Ref. E185 .E54 1996 (5 volumes)
• Encyclopedia of North American history Ref. E45 .E49 1999 (10 vols.)
• Guide and index to the papers of Charles Sumner Ref. Z6616.S78 P34 1988
• Index to the American slave Ref. E444 .A45 Suppl. 3
• Slavery and anti-slavery pamphlets: an index to the microfilm collection Ref. Z7164.S6 H42
• Who's who in African-American history Ref. E185.96 .W46 1994

Books

Search for books in the Library Catalog.

Selected Course Readings (Click on each link for location, call number and availability.)

Abolitionists abroad: American Blacks and the making of modern West Africa / Lamin Sanneh
Black abolitionists / Benjamin Quarles
Black identity and Black protest in the antebellum North / Patrick Rael
Black women abolitionists: a study in activitism, 1828-1860 / Shirley J. Yee
The first emancipation; the abolition of slavery in the North / Arthur Zilversmit
The free negro in New York City in the era before the Civil War / Rhoda Golden Freeman
A hideous monster of the mind: American race theory in the early republic / Bruce Dain
In hope of liberty: culture, community, and protest among northern free Blacks, 1700-1860 / James Oliver Horton, Lois E. Horton
In the shadow of slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 / Leslie M. Harris
Mary Ann Shadd Cary: the Black press and protest in the nineteenth century / Jane Rhodes.
North of slavery; the Negro in the free States, 1790-1860 / Leon F. Litwack
Platform for change: the foundations of the northern free Black community, 1775-1865 / Harry Reed
Black prophets of justice: activist clergy before the Civil War / David E. Swift
Freedom at risk: the kidnapping of free Blacks in America, 1780-1865 / Carol Wilson
Resistance at Christiana; the fugitive slave rebellion, Christiana, Pennsylvania, September 11, 1851: a documentary account / Jonathan Katz
Subversives: antislavery community in Washington, D.C., 1828-1865 / Stanley Harrold
There is a river: the Black struggle for freedom in America / by Vincent Harding
They who would be free: Blacks' search for freedom, 1830-1861 / Jane H. Pease and William H. Pease
Water from the rock: Black resistance in a revolutionary age / Sylvia R. Frey

• Abolitionists
• Abolitionists -- United States
• African American Abolitionists
• African American Women Abolitionists
• African Americans -- Civil Rights -- History -- 18th century
• African Americans -- Civil Rights -- History -- 19th Century
• African Americans -- History -- To 1863
• African Americans -- Legal Status, Laws, Etc.
• African Americans -- Southern States -- History
• Antislavery Movements -- United States
• Free African Americans
• Freedmen
• Freedmen -- United States
• Fugitive Slaves
• Fugitive Slaves -- United States
• Slaves -- Southern States
• Underground Railroad
• Women Abolitionists

Other Sources of Books

• Net Library - online books
• WorldCat and Other Library Catalogs for searching other catalogs if you don't find books in the Four College Catalog. Try the same subject headings listed above.
• Borrow books from the Virtual Catalog and Interlibrary Loan.

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Databases

Locate citations, abstracts and/or full text of journal articles, magazine articles, newspapers, dissertations, government documents, and other information sources in your subject. Some include the full text.

Tip: Use RefWorks Bibliography Manager to download and manage your citations and create bibliographies.

• Academic Search Premier (includes full-text journal articles) Citations, abstracts and full text articles from scholarly and general-interest periodicals.
• African American Biographical Database - Biographies of thousands of African Americans assembled from biographical dictionaries and other sources. Useful to an understanding of the African American experience over the last two centuries.
  
• African American Newspapers: The 19th Century - Starting with the Freedom’s Journal in 1827 and continuing in chronological order with the monthly addition of new text, this database plans to ultimately contain the complete text of the major African American newspapers published in the United States during the 19th century. Currently contains the following newspapers: Freedom's Journal, The Coloured American, The North Star, The National Era, Provincial Freeman, Frederick Douglass Paper, and The Christian Recorder. This material was written by African Americans for African Americans.
• America: History and Life - Scholarly article citations in history with some full text links.
• Black Thought and Culture - Includes the full text of a few materials on the African Americans in the American Revolution, the Haitian Independence Movement, the ending of the International slave trade, the Fugitive Slave Act, Bleeding Kansas, the Harpers Ferry Raid, and the Civil War.
• Ethnic Newswatch - Full-text articles from the contemporary newspapers, magazines and some scholarly journals of ethnic communities in the United States.
• Expanded Academic Index ASAP (includes full-text journal articles) Tip: For scholarly articles, limit the search to refereed publications. Good for academic book reviews.
• JSTOR - Full text scholarly journals.
• Web of Science - Includes the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI). The databases may be searched separately or together. Good for academic book reviews and for seeing who cited whom.

Journals, Periodicals

The Library offers many journals in digital format. For a listing, see the E-Journal Locator (a link is always available at the top of the page.)

A selection of scholarly or academic journals follows:

• African American Review Per PS173.N4N36 and online through JSTOR and Expanded Academic Index.
• Afro-Americans in New York Life and History Per F128.9.N4A36
• Callaloo Per PS173.N4C3 and online through JSTOR and Project Muse
• The Journal of African American History Per E185.J86
• Journal of Black Studies Per E185.5.J8 and online through JSTOR
• The Journal of Negro History Per E185.J86 and online through JSTOR
• Slavery and Abolition: a Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies Per HT851.S58
• Souls: a Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society Per E185.5.S68
• Studies in the World History of Slavery, Abolition, and Emancipation (Through the Internet at http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~slavery/)
• See also a list of journals in Afro American Studies.

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Locating Materials within the Libraries

After you have the citation for your material (from a database, library catalog etc.) find the call number. If not available in the database or index you are using go to the Library Catalog.

1. Choose title and type the name of the journal title, book or other material in the box that appears.
2. If your title appears write down the call number given and location (W.E.B. Du Bois, Reserves, Special Collections etc.).
3. Consult the Call Number chart to identify the floor for your material.

If this library doesn't own the material you want, fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request Form with the appropriate citation information. Staff will attempt to locate and bring the material here for you to use.

Other Library Materials

Black Abolitionist papers, 1830-1865 [microform] UM/Microform Storage 10429, 17 reels. For a guide to the papers see Ref E499.B625 1981.

A documentary history of the Negro people in the United States UM/Spec. Coll. Ref. E185 .A58

Microfilm edition of slavery and antislavery pamphlets from the libraries of Salmon P. Chase & John P. Hale 5460, 5 reels. Microfilm of pamphlet collection at Dartmouth College Library. For an index to the collection see Ref. Z 7164 S6H42.

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Internet Resources

• African American Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907 Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.
• The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record
• SLAVERY AND ANTISLAVERY: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RECENT WORKS IN ENGLISH Part 1 and Part 2
• See also Selected Internet sites in Afro American Studies

Reserves

Click here for Reserve Books and Paper Copies of Articles and eReserve materials for Afro American Studies 797S (when available).

Reserves department homepage

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The Research Process (an introduction)

• Library Research Basics Tutorial - Learn about some very basic research tools and when they are appropriate.
• Merlin Information Literacy Tutorial - In-depth tutorial on the library research process, including evaluation and citation of information sources.

Citation Styles

See Using Citation Styles for examples and links to standard style formats. Use RefWorks Bibliography Manager to download and manage your citations and create bibliographies.

Prepared for AfroAm 797S/History 797S, Fall 2003, Professor Manisha Sinha
Library guide by Isabel Espinal, Librarian for Afro-American Studies
Page URL: http://www.library.umass.edu/subject/afroam/black-abolitionists.html

Last updated: August 4, 2005

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